Show Summary

Brian Benben returns to television two years after wrapping Dream On to play a long time local Los Angeles news anchor that is forced out of his coveted spot when the ratings begin to slip. Chad Rockwell (Charles Esten, Whose Line Is It Anyway?) and Tabitha Berkeley (Lisa Thornhill), good-looking newcomers, replace Brian and his co-anchor at the news desk. Eager to keep pulling down a paycheck, Brian reluctantly accepts the human interest reporter assignment. Brian plans to win back his anchor desk and undermine Chad and Tabitha.
Billy Hernandez (Luis Antonio Ramos) covers the weather, and Kevin LaRue (Wendell Pierce, The Wire) covers sports.
The show aired Mondays at 9:30 pm, following Everybody Loves Raymond.
CompetitionABC: Monday Night FootballFox: Ally McBeal
Production Companies:
CBS Productions
Big Prostate Productions

The Me and the Chimp of the 90's

It's 1998 and you're Brian Benben. You're sitting on top of the world. You just finished a six year run on the acclaimed HBO series, Dream On. You just signed a deal with CBS to star in and produce your own sitcom and they give you the prize timeslot behind Everybody Loves Raymond to boot. Life is good.

Then your show premieres. It's not only bad it's hydrogen bomb bad. Nine episodes are filmed but only four air. That might be the only time that's ever happened in the history of television. Even a cushy timeslot can't stop the show from crashing in the ratings and being panned by every critic with at least a double digit I.Q. Not only is your show over so is your career for all intents and purposes. You are exposed for the no talent hack that you are and probably got a few CBS programming executives fired in the process. Since your show went off the air you've appeared in two movies for the Hallmark Channel and----well, nothing. The Brian Benben Show was the moment of truth for its star and he failed miserably. Just like Ted Bessell, a promising TV actor of the late 60's and early 70's, who did the same in the awful and forgettable 1973 sitcom, Me and the Chimp. Bessell's acting career was effectively over after that fiasco of a series. Too bad because Bessell had some talent whereas Brian Benben has none. Sometimes you beat the devil and sometimes he beats you.moreless

Important:
You must only upload images which you have created yourself or that you are expressly authorised or licensed to upload. By clicking "Publish", you are confirming that the image fully complies with TV.com’s Terms of Use and that you own all rights to the image or have authorization to upload it.

Please read the following before uploading

Do not upload anything which you do not own or are fully licensed to upload. The images should not contain any sexually explicit content, race hatred material or other offensive symbols or images. Remember: Abuse of the TV.com image system may result in you being banned from uploading images or from the entire site – so, play nice and respect the rules!